ABSTRACT
After reading this chapter students should understand and be able to discuss:
The decline in American support for the death penalty
The success and failure of criminal justice reforms during the Obama era
The rising xenophobia that accompanied Donald Trump’s ascendance to the presidency
How a polarized Congress has prevented any meaningful criminal justice reform
The waxing and waning of violent crime in certain parts of the country
The support for plea bargaining and its impact on the criminal justice system
The inequities of the cash bail system
The federal and state conflict over the cannabis legalization movement
The “Ferguson Effect” – its existence and its potential impact
The debate over police use of deadly force
The evolution of the ATF
The criminal justice system response to mass murders
The militarization of policing
Hate crime in America
The challenges of ending the current opioid epidemic
